Over the past few weeks there’s probably been some changes with your work, job, or health routine. You may have had to sacrifice much for the sake of other people’s needs, or perhaps you’ve been overemphasizing duties and responsibilities which has left you in desperate need of solitude, spiritual nourishment, and opportunities for self-reflection. This total solar eclipse in Leo is a powerful breakthrough which can greatly accelerate your awareness of the larger forces at work in your life. It can invite you to let go of some of those burdens you’ve been carrying around for a while, giving you extra space to listen to subtle messages emanating from within.

You may also realize, that for the moment, some people in your life that you’ve felt the need to save or protect, would do much better by helping them find their own way. Too much focus on other’s needs right now could block your own self-realization and your emerging spiritual path. This eclipse carries a lot of themes about letting go and releasing the weight of responsibilities and other people’s problems. That might be difficult for you, since so much of your life often calls you to be of service and assistance to others. That’s still very much who you are, but trust that now you can step into a new cycle unburdened by weight of the past.

This total eclipse of the Sun forms a dynamic grand trine in the sky with both Saturn and Uranus. In particular, this trine from Uranus in Aries reveals that sudden, unexpected changes in your intimate life could help catalyze an “awakening” for you, or that a sudden shift in a joint financial situation could give you some more space to gain perspective or help you get away from drama and external stressors. This eclipse activates the “psychic” regions of your whole sign chart--that is to say that it’s strongly awakening your intuitive awareness and having the most impact on the most intimate and inner personal dimensions of your life.

It correlates with some big changes happening deep within you, in your domestic/home life, and with intimate partnerships. Most of what’s happening now is difficult if not impossible for the outer world to see. This is a highly subjective and private transformation that’s occurring. What you glimpse now or come to understand may be hard to articulate or share. That’s because it has the capacity to alter your own consciousness thereby gifting you a deeper awareness and understanding of yourself and your close connections with friends and family.

The Sun shifts into Virgo on Aug 22, joining Mercury retrograde in this region. This is typically your season for new beginnings which gives you greater willpower, leadership capacity, and an emphasis on your personal style. With Mercury retrograde until Sep 5, this Virgo solar season may be a little awkward and uncertain. You’re in a process of revising your look and reassessing your decision making capacity. This particular season may be a time of trying out different approaches or otherwise experiencing some difficulty getting it together to completely assert yourself effectively.

Give yourself some time to work out any perceived flaws in your overall presentation, but be incredibly mindful of your tendency to place too much emphasis on perfection. Adjust what you need to, but don’t get lost in the details that you completely stall out. Overthinking and nitpicking is a high risk for you at the moment. After Sep 5, with Mars entering Virgo, you’ll find that you have renewed energy as well as increased confidence in your ability to assert yourself more. Take your time until then to sort yourself out. Especially with this solar eclipse, you’re in need of some extra alone time. Wherever you can find that, take advantage of it now.

The Sun conjoins Mercury on Aug 26, symbolizing the peak of this revision process. With Mercury as your ruling planet, this is a critical day for taking in new realizations, ideas, suggestions, or otherwise working out any issues in your current strategies. It also has the potential to amplify your thinking capacity, which can be great for solving current problems but can also (as mentioned above) precipitate some counterproductive over analysis. If you find yourself too overwhelmed with what’s going on, or if thinking things through isn’t leading to resolutions, step back and try an alternative method. That might look like meditation (or whatever that looks like for you). Yoga or a nice walk would also be great ways to distract the mind and allow solutions to emerge more organically. Especially by Aug 31, when Mercury returns to Leo, subtle introspection and a more mindful approach will be a lot more beneficial.